The present invention relates to rotary recording medium reproducing apparatuses capable of placing and leaving a rotary recording medium in a state possible for reproduction within the rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus when a jacket (disc case) having a lid for accommodating the rotary recording medium therein is inserted into and then pulled out from within the rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus, and also capable of incasing the rotary recording medium within the jacket so that the rotary recording medium can be obtained outside the rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus together with the jacket, when the empty jacket is inserted into and then pulled out from within the reproducing apparatus. The present invention further and especially relates to the above type of a rotary recording medium reproducing apparatus constructed so that the jacket cannot be pulled out of the reproducing apparatus unless a lid member connects to the jacket, to achieve reliable operation of incasing and recovering the rotary recording medium with respect to the jacket.
Conventionally, in an apparatus for reproducing a rotary recording medium (referring to video disc, PCM audio disc, and the like, and hereinafter simply referred to as a disc), there are types of apparatuses in which a disc is reproduced when the disc is loaded upon holding and placing of the disc within the reproducing apparatus, by inserting into and then pulling out a disc case which has a lid and accommodates a disc therein, from within the reproducing apparatus.
As a conventional apparatus of this type, a reproducing apparatus was proposed in a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 231,868 filed Feb. 5, 1981, entitled "DISC-SHAPED RECORDING MEDIUM REPRODUCING APPARATUS" in which the assignee is the same as that of the present application. This previously proposed reproducing apparatus operates together with a disc case comprising a jacket which has a space for accommodating a disc and an opening for allowing the disc to go in and out of the jacket, and a lid member inserted through the opening of the jacket for closing the opening of the jacket, where the reproducing apparatus comprises an inserting opening through which the case is inserted, a turntable for rotating the disc, lock releasing means provided at an innermost part on the opposite side from the inserting opening with respect to the turntable, for releasing locking of the lid member to the jacket, holding means also provided at the innermost part, for holding the lid member which is set free from the connection with respect to the jacket, lowering and raising means for lowering the disc to a position where the disc is placed on the turntable from a holding position where the disc is held by the holding means upon starting of the reproduction and raising the disc to the holding position from the turntable upon finishing or discontinuing of the reproduction, a reproducing transducer for reproducing the disc placed on the turntable, and moving means for moving the reproducing transducer from a waiting position to a reproducing position with respect to the disc.
In the above reproducing apparatus, when an empty jacket is inserted into the reproducing apparatus to recover the disc inside the jacket, the lid member connection releasing means and the lid member holding means are respectively restored to their original states, and the lid member is released from the holding state to be connected to the jacket.
In this reproducing apparatus, the lid member holding means is adapted to operate when pushed by the front of the lid member, to hold the lid member when the disc case is inserted into the apparatus. This lid member holding means is also adapted to operate when pushed by the lid member which is held within the apparatus, to release the holding of the lid member when the empty jacket is inserted into the same apparatus. That is, noting the insertion position of the jacket with respect to the reproducing apparatus, the final insertion position upon holding of the lid member and the final insertion position upon releasing the holding of the lid member, are substantially the same position. Accordingly, referring to the connection operation of the lid member to the jacket upon recovering of the disc, when the jacket is pulled backwards after the jacket is inserted into the apparatus to reach the same position as in the case of a disc loading mode, the lid member follows the jacket due to the action of a spring and becomes connected to the jacket.
Moreover, there are cases where an operation is performed to insert the jacket into the final position and then pull out the jacket in a rapid manner, upon recovering of the disc within the jacket. When the jacket is pulled out rapidly, the speed with which the jacket is pulled out may exceed the speed with which the lid member is pushed back by the spring. In this case, the lid member cannot follow the movement of the jacket, and only the jacket is pulled out from the reproducing apparatus without being connected to the lid member. Accordingly the disc cannot be recovered within the jacket in this case.
That is, in the conventional reproducing apparatus, there was a disadvantage in that the disc cannot be recovered within the jacket, when the operation to recover the disc from the reproducing apparatus is performed in a rapid manner.
In order to solve the above described problems, a new reproducing apparatus was proposed in a U.S. patent application filed Mar. 11, 1982, entitled "ROTARY RECORDING MEDIUM REPRODUCING APPARATUS" in which the assignee is the same as that of the present application. In this proposed reproducing apparatus, in addition to the constituting elements of the above described reproducing apparatus, the reproducing apparatus comprises means for releasing the holding with respect to the lid member within the reproducing apparatus at the point when the empty jacket is inserted into a halfway position within the reproducing apparatus, means for pushing back the lid member relesed from the holding in a direction so as to close upon the empty jacket which is being inserted, and means for limiting the final inserting position of the empty jacket in the reproducing apparatus to a position between the above halfway position and the position where the means for releasing the engagement between the lid member and the jacket operates. In this proposed reproducing apparatus, the lid member is released of the holding and is pushed back, as the empty jacket exceeds the halfway position to reach the final inserting position. At the point where the jacket is inserted into the final inserting position, the lid member is already in engagement with the jacket. Accordingly, even if the jacket is pulled out of the reproducing apparatus in an exceedingly fast manner, the lid member connects to the jacket, and the lid member can be obtained outside the reproducing apparatus together with the jacket. Therefore, compared to the previously proposed reproducing apparatus, this reproducing apparatus provides more reliable and positive operation of incasing and recovering the disc with respect to the jacket.
However, even in this reproducing apparatus, if the empty jacket is inserted into a position exceeding the halfway position but not reaching the final inserting position in the reproducing apparatus, and then pulled out in an exceedingly fast manner, the jacket may be pulled out before the lid member which is pushed back engages with the jacket. Thus, only the jacket may be pulled out in this case, and there was a disadvantage in that an accident may occur in which the disc is not recovered. Moreover, when only the jacket is pulled out in the above case, the lid member will fall into the innermost part of the reproducing apparatus because the holding with respect to the lid member is released. Hence, when the lid member falls into the reproducing apparatus, the disc cannot be recovered even if the empty jacket is inserted into the reproducing apparatus again. The reproducing apparatus can only be restored to the normal state by removing a top plate of the reproducing apparatus, which requires the service of a repairman. Therefore, the above kind of accident should never occur in the reproducing apparatus.